People suspected that Willem (III) had intimate relationships with men. He had, for example, a tender spot for his personal advisor Hans Willem Bentinck. William’s letters to him were more warm-hearted than those to his wife. However, his marriage to his wife, the English Mary, seems to have been happy too. The rumours about his possible homosexual behaviour were, incidentally, spread by his opponents. We can, of course, ask ourselves if it is easier today for leaders, men or women, to come out.